Polycom RealPresence Group 500 provides enterprises with a complete video conferencing solution. Actually it goes beyond that: it’s a unified communications solution. Because many companies now want to display content while they speak, just like you would with a PowerPoint presentation in a traditional meeting.

Polycom Group 500 lets you do just that: share content while video conferencing. You can have one content feed and one video feed simultaneously.

How? Read on.

Content Sharing for Polycom Group 500

Because the Polycom RealPresence Group 500 is a full video conferencing system built for contemporary offices, which means incorporating many sources of content, this can get a bit tricky. Please be patient!

You can share content from the following sources using the Group 500:

Any device connected to a Group 500 codec or RealPresence Touch device either directly or through a server

We’re going to focus on sharing content using the Polycom RealPresence Touch, which makes the process incredibly simple. The Touch device is a dedicated capacitive tablet for use with the Polycom RealPresence Group, OTX and Immersive series.

Sharing Content

First, you need to connect the source to the Group series in one of the ways listed above.

Once that’s done, here’s how you share content using the RealPresence Touch:

Tap the Content icon on the right-hand side of the screen:

This will pop up a menu of connected devices on your Touch device.

Then, drag-and-drop whatever device has the content you want to share onto whatever monitor you want it displayed on.

That’s it! It actually is that easy.

Resolution and Refresh Rate

We have a bit of advice for you about resolution and refresh rate when it comes to content sharing. It’s a topic you need to think about, because before you start conferencing, you need to decide what resolution and refresh rate your content will be displayed at.

The basic idea is that you want the highest resolution and refresh rate that works with your network, equipment and content. Balancing your system’s capabilities and your company’s priorities is key.

With the Group 500, a single stream of content can be shared at a maximum resolution of 1920 × 1200 pixels (or WUXGA) with a refresh rate of 60 fps. However, if you have dual streams of video and content, the maximum is one stream at 1920 × 1080 pixels (or 1080p Full HD) at 60 fps and one 1080p stream at 30 fps.

To determine what resolution and refresh rate you should choose, ask yourself these questions:

What resolution does our display support? If you have a 720p HD display, there’s no reason to choose a resolution above 1280 × 720 pixels.

What inputs and outputs do our devices support? If you don’t have an HDMI port on your display, for example, your maximum resolution will be reduced.

How much bandwidth do we want to use? The higher the resolution or refresh rate, the bigger the network load, because you’re sending more data.

Does our content have a lot of detail? If you’re an advertising company with detailed pictures, high resolution is important, but if you’re sharing a couple of graphs in PowerPoint, high resolution is probably not needed.

Is our content static or dynamic? If you’re sharing a video presentation, a high refresh rate is important, but if you’re sharing a static image like a chart, a low refresh rate is perfectly fine.

Going through the process of asking yourself these questions and figuring out the answers can save you and your employees a lot of headache!

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